New unit: ICx Technologies(Washington, DC), a provider of advanced technology solutions for homeland and military security, has formed a news business unit, ICxCryogenics.The new unit is founded upon an exclusive distributor sales agreement with RICOR Cryogenic& Vacuum Systems(En-Harod Ihud, Israel). In partnership with RICOR, ICx Cryogenics will serve as the U.S. based merchant supplier of critical components for infrared, industrial, and detection systems to ICx customers.The move further extends the position of ICx as a premier provider of technology solutions for security applications.RICOR designs and develops Stirling cycle tactical cryogenic coolers that include rotary, linear, and pulse tube coolers for infrared applications.RICOR will continue developing novel, dynamic solutions andapplications in tactical cooler products, assuring that ICx Cryogenics customers will have access to state-of–art technology to maintain a leadership edge with their systems.
Joint venture: Luminent and Fiberxon, both wholly owned subsidiaries of MRV Communications(Chatsworth, CA), announced that they will be branded under the name Source Photonics.The namechange reflects the operation ofthe two companies as a combinedbusiness under a unified management team since MRV closed its acquisition of Fiberxon on July 1,2007. The two organizations combine under the Source Photonics brand to offer one of the broadest and most comprehensive portfolios of optical transceivers for access, telecommunications, and data communications networks, shipping more than 1 million transceivers per quarter at current run rates.
International investors: Intune Networks (Dublin, Ireland), a developer of technology for telecommunications networks, raised US$17.75 million from a consortium of international investors consisting of Amadeus Capital Partners, Balderton Capital (formerly known as Benchmark Capital Europe), and Spark Capital.Intune Networks was formed in Dublin in 1999 by John Dunne, chief marketing officer, and Tom Farrell, chief technology officer.Over the past eight years, the Intune team has developed a global reputation for their expertise in lasers, and this fundraising will provide the resources to commercialize their innovations for the telecommunications market. In August 2006, the company recruited Tim Fritzley, a senior executive in Microsoft’s IPTV division, as chief executive to accelerate the build-out of the business.
New CEO: Nanometrics, a supplier of advanced metrology equipmentto the semiconductor industry, announced that Timothy Stultz will join the company as its president and CEO, succeeding Bruce Rhine, who will become chairman of the Board of Directors. Founder Vincent Coates will become vice chairman of the Board.Stultz will also be appointed to the company’s Board, effective as of his start date, which is expected to be late August 2007.Stultz comes to Nanometrics from Imago Scientific Instruments, where he has served as president, CEO and a director since June 2003. From 1994 to1999, Dr.Stultz served as a vice president and general manager with Veeco Instruments, during which time he led the growth of Veeco’s metrology business.
DARPA award: Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology(Atlanta, GA) have received a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) award toparticipate in a multi-university research center that will develop acomputer-aided design (CAD) environment for micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and nano-electromechanical systems(NEMS).The new research center—to be called the Investigate Multi-physics Modeling and Performance Assessment-driven Characterization and Computation Technology (IMPACT) Center forAdvancement of MEMS/NEMS VLSI—will be led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and will include teams from Purdue University and Lehigh University aswell as Georgia Tech.A consortium of companies—including BAE Systems, Inc., Innovative Design &Technology, MEMtronics Corp., Raytheon Co., Rockwell Collins Inc.and the Rogers Corp.—will also participate.Georgia Tech’s share of the research will be conducted by a team associated with the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE).
The research will seek to develop CAD systems that are based on physical models and therefore can conclusively predict the behavior of MEMS devices. Eventually engineers developing systems with MEMS devices could use a simple drag-and-drop interface to simulate not only the electrical effects of MEMS usage, but also thermal, mechanical and reliability aspects as well.
NSF award: Brian Schulkin, amember of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT) anda participant in a project called “Terahertz Science and Technology— a Studio-Based Approach” at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, won the first-ever Lemelson-Rensselaer $30,000 student prize for inventing an ultra light, hand-held terahertz spectrometer. The device has applications in medical, aerospace, security and otherfields. Schulkin successfully developed a system approximately the size of a laptop computer. Dubbed the Mini-Z, it does not require any peripheral equipment.The Mini-Zhas already proven its ability to detect cracks in space shuttle foam, image tumors in breast tissue, and spot counterfeit water-marks on paper currency.
IGERT is an NSF-wide programthat was developed to meet the challenges of educating U.S.scientists and engineers who will pursue careers in research and education. It aims to bring together interdisciplinary backgrounds, deep knowledge in chosen disciplines, and technical, professional and personal skills that will build leaders and creative agents for change.
In-company training: For the pasteight years, SPIE’s Education Services group has offered SPIEIn-Company Training courses that are held at company facilities when the company has a group of employees to train. SPIE(Bellingham, WA) offers more than 800 different courses that run from one-day to three-day sessions in technology areas that encompass defense & security, optical design& engineering, micro/nano lithogra-phy & fabrication, remote sensing, electronic imaging & signal processing, industrial sensing & measurement, and many more. TheSPIE courses are taught by world-renowned experts from industry and academia—often the authors of definitive texts in their areas of expertise. Courses and instructors are consistently evaluated to ensure quality, and SPIE can schedule any course for a company group to fit that company’s time-frame and training budget. For more information, contact Gayle Lemieux at [email protected].
Merger: Photon Dynamics (SanJose, CA), a supplier of integrated yield-management solutions for the flat-panel-display market, has acquired all outstanding shares of privately held Salvador Imaging(Colorado Springs, CO), an international supplier of high-performance digital cameras, for $20 million. Salvador Imaging will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiaryof Photon Dynamics, and employees of Salvador Imaging will become employees of Photon Dynamics. David Gardner, founder and CEO of Salvador Imaging, will be president of the subsidiary.